Oct
8
Regular upkeep on your vehicle is a must. Even though you do remain diligent, there will still be things that will need to be replaced from time to time, the motor oil, the wiper blades, the 26″ rims, or the brake shoes, and the tires. I have experience with each of these items “breaking down” in my many years of driving. These are items on your vehicle that simply wear out or become damaged over time.
Aside from the rims, all the other items mentioned play a large role in the safety of yourself and all those riding in your vehicle. If the motor oil is not fresh, or if there is too little, the motor of your car may freeze–or more accurately, burn into itself, causing the engine of the car to seize on the freeway. This happened to me in college and it was a frightening experience. Going at high speed, my car slowed down drastically and the power brakes and steering not longer functioned.
The wiper blades? Again, nothing worse than being in a Phoenix monsoon storm without properly functioning windshield wipers. Again, I was caught in a storm and had to pull over and hail a cab. Brake shoes, not only is it extremely dangerous to not have truck wheels and braking systems routinely checked, it can get expensive when the shoes or pads wear out and damage the rotors. A simple brake job, inexpensive, I neglected and after just moving to Los Angeles found it necessary to spend almost a thousand dollars to fix my brakes on my truck.
Next stop, a trip to Idyllwild, California. for a wedding. This time it was not my overlook that got us into trouble, but my boyfriend’s. We were going down Interstate 10 at about 80 miles an hour, and not one, but both of the two back tires actually shredded as we were driving. We all of a sudden heard a sound like burlap flapping against the side of tin roof. We pulled over to see what was going on. His tires were in need of replacement, last year.
So we got back into the Jeep, and slowly made our way to Palm Springs. We found a discount tire distributor, and had all four replaced at once. We were lucky. We experienced an inconvenience, but no one was hurt. We had a great weekend and vowed to always, from that moment on, keep up on the small and easy fixes that make such a difference when driving–in town, and cross country.
Oct
7
One of the most spectacular places to visit these days is Dubai. It has become something of a magnet for visitors from all over the world, and has a special magic for attracting celebrities. The incredible beaches and fantastic night club scene are no doubt part of the draw, but there are many other sides of Dubai that are also equally splendid. It hosts some of the world’s largest and most exciting shopping malls, and also has a superb array of accommodations. Dubai specializes in luxury accommodations, and has a long tradition of hospitality, so that you’re assured to rest in heavenly comfort. Many hotels are also located in spectacular spots, so that you can enjoy some of the finest things that Dubai has to offer.
As a creative center, Dubai has really come into its own in recent years. Due to a large push by the government, there is now a fantastic gallery scene in town, and it does indeed rival even the music scene. Both are spectacular, however, and there is something here to certainly suit your tastes. For those who might like a bit of both at the same time, try to plan your visit to coincide with the Creek Art Fair, as there are almost always sound installations in the splendid offerings on display for your viewing pleasure.
The Creek Art Fair is the edgier sister of Art Dubai, and is held at around the same time of year. This is a chance to see the fringe of contemporary international art, and the players here are no less famous, perhaps, but the work is often in less tangible mediums, and is more for the culture than for the marketplace. Last year’s CAF saw new work by the likes of Jay Battle. Jay is a New York based sound artist who is quickly making his way around the international art scene, and is attracting attention for his sound work as well as his napkin and coffee stain drawings. This is exciting, contemporary work, that speaks about the heartbeat of the world as well as the pulse of Dubai.
Oct
6
Reading that Madrid was recently in the run for hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, I couldn’t help but to think back twelve years ago to my honeymoon. My wife Elizabeth and I spent the whole month of October in Spain, and sometimes I think I’ll never have a more beautiful or special time in my life. It’s not that I haven’t experienced great joy and beauty since or prior to that, our time there simply was incomparably magical.
We were only going to stay in Madrid for three days, however, it was so incredibly beautiful and there was so much to do and see that we extended our stay in one of the Madrid best hotels and remained there for a week. It is not only the capital of Spain, but also the largest of its cities, and I can’t remember now why we didn’t think we would need more time there in the first place. Oh, of course, Elizabeth wanted to spend the bulk of our time in the Spanish countryside and stay at some of the rustic bed and breakfasts and just get a brief tour of the major cities. My perspective was to spend as much time in the city as possible and tour the country as we passed through. As it turned out, the honeymoon was a combination of both our interests.
Madrid, though, was absolutely incredible. I loved sipping coffee in a café in one of the historic neighborhoods. Madrid is greatly rich in political and social historic relevance, and sitting there in that small café on a rainy Tuesday with a piece of lit candle at our table was amazingly romantic. I wanted that afternoon to last forever. Another great moment occurred when we visited the Teatro Real, or Royal Theatre, which was a restored opera house from 1850. It sits across from the Royal Palace, which was the official home of the queen during its construction and opening. Among other great composers and famous personalities, Giuseppe Verdi is known to have attended the premiere of his new opera La forza del destino.
Oct
6
In these days, when the global and the local mix in new and spectacular ways, places like Singapore have a special place in the minds of savvy world travelers. Its multicultural urban culture has always been attuned to the newest trends, and has a great respect for the best of world tradition. Singapore offers a cultural scene that is like none other, with a rich array of offerings in music, theatre, and dance, and also has a tremendous visual art scene. It is a place that accommodates the best of tastes, and to get the real flavor, it’s recommended to see it from a hotel whose rank is five star,Singapore has a great tradition of hospitality, and one can really experience it in luxury lodgings.
Our hotels are selected from Singapore’s finest, to give you the splendor you deserve while you enjoy the richness of the place. After a rest in our gloriously-furnished rooms, enjoy a fine meal served by our master chefs, and set out to see the sights in Singapore. There is a lot of visually stunning sights here, from the large-scale to the smallest detail, and it’s easy to find yourself looking for work by local artists, to see what some focus might do to these disparate images on the streets. If you happen to find an exhibition by the great visual artist Matthew Ngui, you may have to refocus a few times. His installations are famous for their ability to stun the viewer with its tricks of perception.
Matthew Ngui likes to play with how we see, as much as offering complex content to what we do see. His video works and sculptures have an ability to change shape, so that what they look like from far away is something altogether different than what they are up close. It’s a mastery of visual manipulations, but it reveals a much deeper agenda for the artist. He’s from Singapore and splits his time between here and Perth, where his instructor Ng Eng Tengalso lives. His body of work is dedicated to asking questions about knowing, and specifically about how knowledge is embedded in culture. Apart from sculpture and video, he is also known for his food performances, where preparation is part of the installation, and food becomes a cultural product which can be consumed by the spectator. Through these actions, he is asking the audience to ask questions back, to critically engage in how meaning and knowledge are shared, and often, confused, in a time of multiple meanings.
Oct
5
Our vacation in Phuket is all about relaxation. On our first morning, we had breakfast at the Phuket best hotels, it was a delicious buffet, serving anything our hearts desired. The waitress came by and asked us if we wanted coffee and I thought I’d try out my Thai language and greeted her in Thai. She smiled and replied in Thai, but then she continued as if I was fluent, which I was not, but at least I knew I had successfully gotten my intonations right. Of course, I had this confused look on my face that told her I hadn’t a clue to what she was saying.
After breakfast, we decided to go to the beach, even though it was early in the morning. We rented two lounge chair with umbrellas from this guy on the beach. It was so nice knowing that no matter how much time we spent in the water that our umbrella and lounge chairs would always be there when we got back. We rented snorkel gear at a shack not too far from our lounge chairs and began our exploration of the ocean floor of Patong Beach. We spent the entire day, snorkeling, lounging and playing in the sand.
We thought about how not too long ago this beach was devastated by the Tsunami of 2004, because this beach, normally, would be completely full this time of year, but it was virtually empty. There were no jet ski’s to rent, which normally there would be. From what we could see, the beach has recovered but the tourism hasn’t. The toll of the Tsunami is still being felt. We saw a man carrying a basket on his head, he was selling fruit. He had been on the beach all day long, we didn’t know what kind of fruit he was selling, but we bought a few anyway, you know, to support the locals. The fruit must not have been ripe, we still couldn’t tell what kind of fruit it was but it most definitely wasn’t ripe.
There was a puppy on the beach, and he hung around us all day, we really enjoyed playing with him, he reminded me of my dog back home in the States being watched by my son. The puppy dug a hole under our lounges and had apparently adopted us for the day. It was hard to leave him on the beach, but we needed to head back to our hotel room and get ready to go out on the town tonight. He started to follow us, but we managed to get the security personnel to stop him. Sad, we really would’ve taken him to our hotel room, but of course that was impossible. Plus, we wouldn’t be able to take him back to the States with us.
After a long day on the beach, we showered and went to a local restaurant to eat. The food was absolutely marvelous. We headed back to our hotel room and decided to call it a wonderful day and night.
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